Wednesday, October 10, 2012

KAMIKAZE KINGS: "The Law"

Arriving on a wave of PR bullshit, Germany’s Kamikaze Kings are ready to take the world by the scruff of the neck and shake it until it screams “Uncle”. Well, if they were any good, but sadly these lads are destined for the bargain bins of Europe rather than the palaces.

This “long expected” debut has been hiding in my inbox for a few weeks, and I suspect my brain had an idea that it wouldn’t be up to much. It’s not terrible, really, it’s just very straightforward chest beating old school hard rock that takes the worst bits of Manowar, Saxon and Judas Priest and wraps them up in a studded nappy. Glam rock meets Wrestlemania it may be, but whilst there’s a few tracks that genuinely kick some ass, such as “Burn Baby Burn” and the single “Boys ‘n’ Men”, there’s so many more that just meander about like a goat with it’s eyes poked out. “Bible Black”, for example, is the worst track I’ve heard this year, a doomy dirge that drags and drags, not helped by the poor vocals of Elmo Kamikaze (yeah, they‘re one of those bands), which just don‘t work on a slow song. Elsewhere, he gets quite a godo RickY Warwick vibe going, just not here. The band are certainly better when they are rocking out with their cocks out, but even so this is a very uneven album.

Although they’re probably fun if they come to a pub near you, Kamikaze Kings just haven’t got enough good songs to get an y real recommendation from me. When they’re good, they’re pretty good, but it doesn’t happen often enough.
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